Types of Foster Care

Some children need fostering for a short period, other children will need a home for longer and some will need a permanent foster home.

Some foster carers choose to specialise in one particular area while others opt to take a mixture of children with different needs. An assessment will be carried out to consider the type of fostering that is best suited to you and your family.

We offer these types of foster care:

Respite

Offers a short stay (a few days up to a few weeks) to provide a break for the child’s family or another foster family. This can be planned or an emergency placement due to unforeseen circumstances.

Short term

Provides foster placements for a few weeks or months (up to 2 years) until difficulties at home are sorted out or alternative plans are made for the child’s future.

Long term

Provides a permanent home for a child, usually an older child, who is unable to return to their birth family. They may or may not keep in touch with their birth families.

Supported Lodgings

Provides support an older child (16- 21years old) and provides them with emotional support and a room where they feel safe and secure so that they can deal with the challenges that come with becoming an adult. More about Supported Lodgings.

Private Fostering

Private fostering is when a child under the age of 16 (under 18 if disabled) is cared for by someone who is not their parent or a close relative for 28 days or more. This is a private fostering arrangement made between a parent and a carer. More about Private Fostering.

We also offer specific fostering schemes in Cardiff. Click on the tabs above to view.

Our Teen Scheme has been designed for carers who wish to specialise in caring for young people aged 12-16 years on a short-term basis.

Teenage years are hard for anyone. But for a young person who has gone through a particularly difficult or distressing time at home, this time is made even harder. Without sound guidance and support, teenagers are at risk of getting into behaviour and lifestyle patterns that could seriously affect their future.

To care for a teenager you need to be:

tolerant

patient

flexible

You must be able to:

Listen

set clear and consistent boundaries

help a young person make sense of an often confusing world

For the teen scheme you will get:

£396.96 per child, per week

a retainer payment of £175.83 per week, for the first 6 weeks vacant after a placement

holiday allowance payments of up to £442.27 per child

The most important elements when fostering a teenager are making them feel they have someone to talk to who really cares and providing stability to give them a sense of security.

In Cardiff there are a small number of young people aged 10 – 18 years who need a good, stable home which offers them support whilst they have been bailed or remanded to the care of the Local Authority by the Police or the Criminal Courts.

To become an approved Remand Carer we would normally expect you to have a significant amount of previous Fostering experience and / or significant experience of working with young people who display challenging behaviour.

Remand Carers receive the following support from our Youth Offending Service (YOS):

contact with Bail supervision staff as appropriate (24hrs a day, 7 days a week.)

transport to court hearings, etc

additional support packages where appropriate.

assistance in assessing progress made by the young person in order to report to the Court.

payments and holidays:

£396.96 per child, per week

a retainer payment of £175.83 per week, for the first 6 weeks vacant after a placement